Michael Burgess, a beloved writer who wrote an advice column as "Uncle Mike" and was active in the Oregon Coast arts community, died Sunday at his home in Cannon Beach. He was 65. Burgess was a columnist for This Week, a newspaper in Portland, before moving to the coast and beginning a long, lively run as a columnist for The Upper Left Edge, a newspaper founded and edited by his friend Billy Hults. Burgess wrote for the paper and answered letters as "Ask Uncle Mike."

His columns were collected in several books -- "Letters to Uncle Mike," "More Letters to Uncle Mike" and "Uncle Mike on Relationships." His best-known book was "Uncle Mike's Guide to the Real Oregon Coast," which received a rave review from Ursula K. Le Guin in The Oregonian in 1997. "And the book, for all its joyously dire fantasies and warnings, is written out of true, deep, knowledgeable love," Le Guin wrote.